Early Detection Innovation Sandpit and Award
The CRUK-EPSRC-STFC Early Detection Innovation Sandpit and Award will catalyse new multidisciplinary collaborations to drive forward earlier detection of cancer.
To apply for this funding you must attend a sandpit workshop — an intensive and interactive three-day residential event where you will have the opportunity to:
• Network and form new collaborations spanning diverse research areas and organisations
• Work in broad, multidisciplinary teams to generate new and innovative research ideas
• Pitch projects for seed funding to test the feasibility of your ideas
Find out more about what to expect at the innovation sandpit workshop
Scientific theme
The theme for the July workshop is liquid biopsy: the potential of molecular markers in the blood or other bodily fluids to be used to detect disease state. In cancer, such molecules are released from tumour cells as they die and break apart. However, they exist in very low concentrations relative to molecules from healthy cells. Developing sensor and analysis technology which is sufficiently sensitive and specific in detecting early cancer markers amongst a noisy background signal would be transformative for patient outcomes.
Through the workshop we hope to bring new ideas and technologies from engineering and physical sciences to bear on cancer detection. We also hope to catalyze novel ideas by bringing diverse research communities together for the first time and exposing them to the challenges of cancer detection.
The research ideas you develop at the workshop should:
• Lead to the significant advancement of our understanding of sensor technologies suitable for liquid biopsy
• Consider the practical challenges of low volume liquid usually taken for analysis and the inconsistency of sample preparation across point of care sites
• Prioritise biomarkers with high specificity for cancer or even for multiple cancer types, including markers specific to cancers that will become aggressive as opposed to non-lethal disease
Download the full workshop specification (PDF)
Application Deadline 24th May 2018
Workshop dates 16-18 July 2018
Funding amount £100k
For Eligibility and more details please go http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/funding-for-researchers/our-funding-schemes/early-detection-innovation-sandpit-and-award